October 2006

Vacuum time!

We wanted to visit Disneyland again during their 50th Anniversary celebration. We hopped onto an early morning Alaska Airlines flight and were in the park by 2pm. This time Drew is tall enough for every ride but one.

We started the morning with a character breakfast with Minnie and Friends, where Alexa saw her favorite (Minnie), Drew saw his favorite (Dale), and Dan saw his favorite (Tigger).

Early Entry is great, it let's us hit a lot of rides without much wait. You pay the price, as you have to stay at a Disney Hotel and they are expensive, but the park is a lot less crowded at the time. We spent the afternoon in California Adventures.

Mickey's Toontown was the first destination thanks to Early Entry again. Both kids again saw their favorite people (well, besides Mom and Dad!). We hit their favorite ride again - Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. We saw Playhouse Disney Live in California Adventures, where Drew got to be part of the beginning of the show. We finished up with dinner at Goofy's Kitchen where everyone had a great time eating tons of food and there were lots of characters. The kids ate so much dessert that they were not sleepy, so we went swimming for about an hour to wear them out for the night.

Early Entry for Fantasyland allowed Lex to hit her favorites of Dumbo and the carousel. Lines were starting to get bad this Thursday as the park was getting more crowded. Drew got to make some cookies, and you know how he loves his cooking. With the nice weather and crowds we decided to go over to California Adventures. Drew rode the water ride twice and was pretty wet, so he got a new T-shirt out of it. As the day wound down it was back to Main Street USA to catch the parade. We also got to meet Mickey Mouse and get a great picture with him.

The last day was Friday, and boy was it busy. The kids were also just flat worn out. We did catch a few rides, a couple of characters, and a couple of family photo opportunities. We ate dinner at the ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney, which has the best kids menu we have seen at any restaurant anywhere. The adult food was great too!

Drew's 1st grade class took a field trip to a Pumpkin Farm and Gen was a chaperone.

Drew and Alexa cuddle with Cousin Lyla.

Alexa enjoys playing with water, and drinking from her tea set. It's that time of year and we finally had about enough leaves to play with. The kids took full advantage.

Today we did the traditional Halloween preparations: cleaning out the pumpkins, carving them, and attending the YMCA party. The kids drew the faces and did the carving on the pumpkins while Dan did the finishing touches. Drew was Batman again this year, while Alexa was the cutest Dalmatian around.

Happy Halloween! Alexa had a school party. She is just so darn cute, and is growing up too darn fast. The trick 'r treating started in Downtown Bothell, even Lyla and Deb came along. The pumpkins and the house we so very scary, it is too bad we never get any trick 'r treaters. Maybe it is just too scary?

Family Photos and kid's Profiles.

Updated 11/19/2006